Back To Horton Vs. Meskill

April 07, 1998

East Hartford's tax base has shrunk while its public school enrollment has grown 27 percent and its school budget by 16 percent since 1991. The town's ability to adequately finance its schools can't match the mounting costs caused by increased enrollment.

By law, the state is required to help East Hartford to do just that, but it hasn't.

That's why East Hartford has joined 11 other towns in a lawsuit challenging the state's formula for distributing education money.

Students in the communities, ranging from Coventry to Bridgeport, claim the state has unconstitutionally shortchanged their districts in failing to provide an equal educational opportunity for all public school students. Their case has merit.

Plaintiffs have won comparable lawsuits in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, Ohio and Michigan.

The Connecticut plaintiffs charge that a 2-percent-per-year cap imposed by the legislature on the increase of school aid to municipalities violates the terms of the state Supreme Court's 1977 Horton vs. Meskill ruling. The court held that overreliance on property taxes to finance public schools is unconstitutional. Given the disparity among municipalities in wealth and in student needs, the court said, relying on property taxes leads to inequality of educational opportunity.

The state agreed at the time to eventually provide half the cost of local education. The closest it came was 45 percent in 1989.

More recently, the state's share dwindled to 38 percent.

Most states provide a bigger percentage of aid to their local schools. When it comes to property taxes, Connecticut is among the four highest states. That dubious distinction is partly the result of local schools' heavy reliance on property taxes.

Just days after the new lawsuit was announced, the legislature's Education Committee approved a bill to raise the cap to 5 percent by adding $25 million to the proposed state budget. Although that is a step in the right direction, it does not come close to meeting the state's pledge to pay 50 percent of the costs of local education.

Horton vs. Meskill is two decades old. It's past time to make good on the state's pledge.